Educated Muslims more vulnerable to terrorism

New Delhi: For the first time since 9/11, India and not Pakistan, has been accused of exporting global terror. Of the eight individuals arrested for the failed car bomb attacks in Great Britain and on Glasgow Airport in Scotland, three were Indian nationals.

And the Indian connection to the UK terror plot is only turning stronger. The Bangalore Police say Kafeel Ahmed, the brother of detained Indian doctor, Sabeel Ahmed, was the man who rammed the jeep into Glasgow Airport.

Police say the brothers were fundamentalists, and used to organise radical meetings.

The suspects that also include Sabeel and Kafeel's cousin, Mohammed Haneef, are highly educated Muslims who hail from Bangalore.

The question that was being debated on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation with Sagarika Ghose: Is the educated Indian Muslim becoming vulnerable to the ‘terrorist’ stereotype?

On the panel of experts to discuss the issue were writer and columnist, Farrukh Dhondy; Member Planning Commission, Sayeeda Hamid; The Pioneer columnist, Sandhya Jain; and Member of the Quranic Study Circle, Dr Taha Mateen.

The Face Of Terror

After the attempted attacks in UK, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh has expressed fear that all Indian Muslims may be stereotyped as potential terrorists - all due to their brown skin and Muslim-sounding names.

Farrukh Dhondy said that it was not unfair for the British Police to become more cautious where brown skinned people were concerned.

However, he added that there had been no racism against the Asians. Instead he said that there been a rise in common sense, a lot of caution and a sense of complete outrage.

But he said that the latest attack might imply the fact that Indian Muslims -- young and highly educated men -- who were till now seen as integrated within India, were being radicalised.

Sayeeda Hamd begged to differ though and said that nobody could be typified and stereotyped. "Though the needle of suspicion might have gone onto the three men from Bangalore nothing has been proven so far," she said.

“To say that the educated Indian Muslim has become radicalised is going in the wrong direction because I also echo the same sentiment that the Prime Minister felt for the Muslims. Terrorism can be from any sect. To say that India has now joined in global terror is an absolutely erroneous thing to do,” she added.

Sandhya Jain responded to this by saying that that the particularism with which Islam has been gripped in the 20th century and earlier in the 19th century always had an educated component in it.

“By emphasing its international aspect, Islam has been less accommodative of nationalism, so when there is a problem with Islam, everybody gets excited particularly volatile groups, so they do not get a result that is fruitful,” she said.

She also brought forth the point that politically, when there is a stable governance in a pro-western country then Muslims are not accountable to the government.

However, there is no denying the fact, that with the attempted terror attacks in the UK, the evidence has gone against the Muslims suspects so far.

Dr Taha Mateen said that for a fallacy of a few young-blooded men, the whole Muslim community was being put on trial and that was unfair. India as a nation was giving full support to the Muslims, but right now, not only India but also the entire world needed to understand how hurt the Muslim community felt.

“Being part of the Muslim community, I do not know how to respond to this. We feel apologetic towards India, towards Bangalore, towards the world and towards the doctor community,” said Dr Mateen.

A Need Of Ideology

The next important question that needed to be answered was - what would have caused a doctor, a healer, to become a part of the ideology of terror?

Dr Mateen felt that one of the reasons for this could be provocation by the media and the Internet, which were full of news and stories on communal lines. "The Muslim community feels very hurt by this kind of discrimination and becoming a part of the ideology of terror could be one of the ways of hitting back," he said.

Farrukh Dhondy agreed with this saying, that since most of those who were suspects in the latest UK bombings were well educated, the reason for becoming a part of a plan like this was more discrimination than anything else.

“I think they get extremely displaced in the value systems of the British society. But the issue that needs more pondering on is that the bombers targeted young children and women,” said Dhondy.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Sandhya Jain said that it was not right to say the suspects were guilty before anything was proven.

Muslims were fighting for the respectability for their culture and civilisation. There was a deep-seeded feeling within the Muslims that they were not being given the kind of respect that they needed, she said.

Dr Mateen, meanwhile, was of the opinion that such kind of deep-seeded radical philosophies could not be created in Bangalore.

"These men went to UK, where their opinions and thoughts become radical in nature. Ideas like these simply cannot germinate in places like Bangalore," he said.

Farrukh Dhondy rounded up the discussion by saying that mostly there was a problem as there was a crisis of ideology in Islam.

He said that the need of the hour was for the British Muslims to get together and educate and bring up their children in a fashion where they do not feel misunderstood.

Final SMS poll results: Is the educated Indian Muslim becoming vulnerable to the ‘terrorist’ stereotype?

Yes- 74 per cent

No- 26 per cent

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